Trade-offs in biodiversity and ecosystem services between edges and interiors in European forests

Thomas Vanneste; Leen Depauw; Emiel De Lombaerde; Camille Meeussen; Sanne Govaert; Karen De Pauw; Pieter Sanczuk; Kurt Bollmann; Jörg Brunet; Kim Calders; Sara A O Cousins; Martin Diekmann; Cristina Gasperini; Bente J Graae; Per-Ola Hedwall; Giovanni Iacopetti; Jonathan Lenoir; Sigrid Lindmo; Anna Orczewska; Quentin Ponette; Jan Plue; Federico Selvi; Fabien Spicher; Hans Verbeeck; Florian Zellweger; Kris Verheyen; Pieter Vangansbeke; Pieter De Frenne

doi:10.1038/s41559-024-02335-6

Trade-offs in biodiversity and ecosystem services between edges and interiors in European forests

Nat Ecol Evol. 2024 Feb 29. doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02335-6. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Thomas Vanneste^#¹, Leen Depauw^#², Emiel De Lombaerde², Camille Meeussen², Sanne Govaert², Karen De Pauw², Pieter Sanczuk², Kurt Bollmann³, Jörg Brunet⁴, Kim Calders⁵, Sara A O Cousins⁶, Martin Diekmann⁷, Cristina Gasperini⁸, Bente J Graae⁹, Per-Ola Hedwall⁴, Giovanni Iacopetti⁸, Jonathan Lenoir¹⁰, Sigrid Lindmo⁹, Anna Orczewska¹¹, Quentin Ponette¹², Jan Plue⁶, Federico Selvi⁸, Fabien Spicher¹⁰, Hans Verbeeck⁵, Florian Zellweger³, Kris Verheyen², Pieter Vangansbeke², Pieter De Frenne²

Affiliations

¹ Forest & Nature Lab, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Melle-Gontrode, Belgium. thomas.vanneste@ugent.be.
² Forest & Nature Lab, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Melle-Gontrode, Belgium.
³ Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
⁴ Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Lomma, Sweden.
⁵ CAVElab-Computational and Applied Vegetation Ecology, Department of Environment, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
⁶ Biogeography and Geomatics, Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁷ Vegetation Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Ecology, FB2, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
⁸ Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
⁹ Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
¹⁰ UMR CNRS 7058 « Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés », Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France.
¹¹ Institute of Biology, Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
¹² Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38424266
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02335-6

Abstract

Forest biodiversity and ecosystem services are hitherto predominantly quantified in forest interiors, well away from edges. However, these edges also represent a substantial proportion of the global forest cover. Here we quantified plant biodiversity and ecosystem service indicators in 225 plots along forest edge-to-interior transects across Europe. We found strong trade-offs: phylogenetic diversity (evolutionary measure of biodiversity), proportion of forest specialists, decomposition and heatwave buffering increased towards the interior, whereas species richness, nectar production potential, stemwood biomass and tree regeneration decreased. These trade-offs were mainly driven by edge-to-interior structural differences. As fragmentation continues, recognizing the role of forest edges is crucial for integrating biodiversity and ecosystem service considerations into sustainable forest management and policy.

Abstract

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